Toilet flushing mechanism



Dec. 17, 1968 w. R. PERFATER TOILET FLUSHING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 21, 1964 INVENTOR 074 72-7? A. Ase/975g,

04 .1 Hafiz/l ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,416,161 TOILET FLUSHING MECHANISM Walter R. Perfater, 13708 Nancy Ave., Chesapeake, W. Va. 25315 Filed Sept. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 397,756 4 Claims. ('Cl. 4-67) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mechanism adapted to be inserted in a toilet flush mechanism and supported by the side walls of the water tank to limit the downward movement of the arm float, the mechanism includes members which engage the inner side walls of the tank and turnbuckle which is connected to the members and manually operable to move the same toward and away from each other for properly positioning the mechanism in the tank in relation to the float arm. The members may have apertures in their inner faces which are larger than the outer portions of the turnbuckle mechanism to provide play between the outer ends of the turnbuckle and the members and the turnbuckle may be oblong in cross section and surrounded by a sheath.

This invention relates to an improvement in flushing mechanisms for toilets, and more particularly to a device which prevents the full downward movement of the customary valve actuated float.

It is well known that in the customary valve actuated float mechanism used in toilets the mechanism becomes worn or gets out of proper adjustment so that either the outlet ball valve which shuts off the water from the tank to the toilet bowl does not properly seat or that the adjustment of the float actuated arm does no properly actuate the valve regulating the inflow of Water to the tank, either resulting in the waste of water and annoyance to the user. These problems exist when the valve controlling the inlet of the water to the tank is not properly actuated because of maladjustment of the float and its arm, or by wear in the pivotal connections of the linkages connecting the inlet valve and the float actuated arm or because, through maladjustment, the float contacts the outlet ball valve thus preventing proper seating of the ball valve after the flushing operation is completed.

The main object of the present invention is to prevent the float and arm actuated thereby from assuming its normal full downward movement upon the flushing operation, thereby assuring that there will be no interference between the float and the outlet ball valve.

Another object of the invention is to increase the life of the pivotal connections between the float actuated arm and the inlet valve by limiting the movements thereof.

Water used in rapid repeated flushing operations will, if the float is permitted to travel its normal full downward movement, particularly where the water pressure in the water line is high, wet the entire surface of the float thus adding to its weight. Additional weight, particularly where wear has taken place in the aforementioned pivotal connections, may prevent the float from assuming its normal height for full actuation of the inlet valve to fully close the same. Accordingly, another object of the invention is to prevent the aforementioned difiiculty by limiting the downward movement of the float, thereby preventing the incoming water from wetting the float.

It is also known that when there is a maladjustment of the float and arm, or where there has been considerable wear in the pivotal connections in the inlet valve actuation linkage, the float contacts the side walls of the water tank causing frictional engagement between the float and side wall or Walls thereby preventing the float from obtaining its normal height in the water tank when the tank is full and the inlet valve should be completely closed. If the float does not attain its proper height, the inlet valve will not be fully closed thus resulting in constant inlet of water which merely overflows in the overflow pipe. Accordingly, still another object of the invention is to prevent excessive vertical movement of the float during the flushing and filling operations thereby minimizing the possibilities of the float contacting the side walls of the water tank.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device which is simple in operation, may be cheaply manufactured, which requires no moving parts once the same has been assembled within the water tank, and which may be easily positioned in its intended location by a novice and may be easily adjusted to the users requirement.

The device includes a mechanism which is adapted to be supported by and between the side walls of the water tank and positioned below and in the path of movement of the float actuated arm to limit the downward movement of the arm and float when the water outlet valve is opened and the water level in the tank drops. The mechanism includes a pair of members or blocks formed of any suitable material having inner and outer faces. The outer faces engage the side walls of the tank and inner faces are apertured to accommodate bolts which have C-shaped outer end portions which pivotally engage pins inserted through the blocks. A turnbuckle is secured to the inner ends of the bolts, and one bolt has a right-hand thread and the other has a left-hand thread which threads cooperate with the turnbuckle so that the turnbuckle may be actuated to first draw the members or blocks toward each other a distance less than the span between the side walls of the tank to permit positioning of the mechanism within the tank and between the side walls thereof and under the float actuated arm, after which the turnbuckle is again actuated to force the members or blocks apart to firmly contact the inner surfaces of the tanks side walls and hold the mechanism in place.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional view through a toilet flush tank showing the invention properly positioned therein;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 33 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to FIGURE 1, reference characters 10 and 11 indicate the end walls of the water tank, 12 the bottom wall and 13 one of the side walls of the tank. A customary flushing mechanism includes the water inlet pipes 15 and 16 controlled by the water inlet valve 17. The float 18 is secured to the arm 19 and the arm 19 has the customary pivotal connections which control the operation of the inlet valve 17. A handle, not shown, actuates the rod 20 which in turn is connected to stem 21 controlling the actuation of the outlet ball valve 22 which has its seat 23. The ball valve 22 and seat 23 control the outlet of water through the outlet pipe 24 which leads into the toilet bowl. With the mechanism thus described, which is merely representative of a customary toilet flushing mechanism, operation of the handle raises the stem 21 to in turn raise the ball valve 22 from its seat 23 to permit the water contained within the tank to flow out of pipe 24. As the water level drops within the tank, the float 18 descends thus opening the inlet valve 17 permitting water to flow through pipes 15 and 16. When the water has reached a low level within the tank, the ball valve 22 normally falls by gravity and cooperates with its seat 23 to prevent further water from leaving the tank. However,

if the float 18, either through maladjustment of the pivotal connections between the arm 19 and inlet valve 17 or because the arm 19 is bent, the float 18 may contact the ball valve 22 before the ball valve 22 drops to its seat 23. Such contact will prevent the proper seating of the ball valve 22 thus permitting the water coming into the tank through the pipes and 16 to constantly drain out of pipe 24. Further, should the float come into frictional contact with the side wall or walls of the tank or otherwise not properly reach its intended full upward position, the inlet valve 17 is not completely closed and water will continue to flow into the tank through the inlet pipes 15 and 16 and then out of the overflow pipe 24 to drain under the valve seat 23 through the outlet pipe 24.

The invention, disclosed in FIGURES 2 through 4, is generally illustrated by reference character 30 in FIG- URE 1. As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the mechanism includes a pair of blocks 32 which have outer faces 33 and inner faces 34. These blocks may be formed of wood, plastic or other suitable material. Each of the blocks 32 have an enlarged aperture 35 extending from their inner face 34 to accommodate bolts 36, which bolts have C-shaped ends 37 which encircle pivot pins 38 which extend through the blocks 32. One of the bolts 35 has left handed screw threads while the other has right handed screw threads and these bolts extend into complementary screw threads of the turnbuckle 40. As shown in FIGURE 4, the turnbuckle 40 is oblong in cross section and is covered by a sheath 42. If desired, washers 43 may encircle the bolts 36 and be positioned between the inner faces 34 of blocks 32 and the turnbuckle 40 and sheath 42.

In operation, the turnbuckle 40 is rotated to draw the blocks 32 toward each other to shorten the entire mechanism 30 so that it may be placed between the side walls of the water tank and positioned below the arm 19 and in the path of the movement of the arm, as illustrated in FIGURE 1. Thereafter, the turnbuckle is rotated in the opposite direction to move the blocks 32 away from each other to engage the side walls of the water tank. The torque used on the turnbuckle, when placing the mechanism 30 in position, is only sufficient to properly wedge the mechanism against the side walls of the tank. Because of the enlarged apertures 35 providing play between the bolts 36 and blocks 32, true alignment of the blocks 32 is unnecessary and the blocks do not have to be in the identical horizontal or vertical plane. A minor adjustment as to the positioning of the sheath 42 relative to the arm 19 may be accomplished by rotation of the turnbuckle 40, 45 from that shown in FIGURE 4 to slightly lower the contacting surface of the mechanism with the arm 19.

As will be understood from the foregoing and an inspection of FIGURE 1 of the drawings, when the handle, not shown, is actuated to actuate rod and link 21 to raise the ball valve 22 from its seat 23, the water within the tank will flow out of pipe 24. As the water level descends in the tank, the arm 19 will contact the device 30 and prevent its normal full downward movement. The movement of the arm 19, however, will be suflicient to open the inlet valve 17. Because the arm cannot move downwardly beyond the device 30, the float 18 cannot come in contact with the ball valve 22 and hence the ball valve will properly fall by gravity on its seat 23 when the proper amount of water in the tank has been discharged through pipe 24. The aforementioned limiting movement of the float 18 and its arm 19 causes only limited movement of the pivotal connections and only partial opening of inlet valve 17. Thus, if the water pressure in the water line is high, the inlet valve 17 will properly throttle the same and prevent surging and resulting undesirable noise. Further, as the float 18 only has a limited movement within the tank, the possibilities of it coming into contact with the side walls of the tank, and the ensuing problems resulting therefrom are minimized.

What is claimed is:

1. In a toilet flush mechanism including a'water tank having side, end and bottom walls; a water inlet valve; an arm having one end connected to the valve to open and close the same upon vertical movement of the other end of the arm; a float connected to the other end of the arm which moves vertically within the tank upon the rising and lowering of the water level in the tank; and a valved water outlet; the improvement which comprises a mechanism adapted to be supported by and between the side walls of the tank and positioned below and in the path of movement of the arm to limit the downward movement of the arm and float when the water outlet valve is opened and water level in the tank drops, said mechanism including a pair of members adapted to engage the inner surfaces of the tanks side walls, and turnbuckle means pivotally connected to said members and being manually operable to move said members toward and away from each other, whereby said means may be actuated to draw said members toward each other a distance less than the space between the side walls to permit positioning of said mechanism within the tank between the side walls thereof and under the arm and adjacent the float and thereafter again be actuated to force said members apart to cause said members to firmly contact the inner surfaces of the tanks side walls and hold said mechanism in place.

2. In a toilet flush mechanism including a water tank having side, end and bottom walls; a water inlet valve; an anm having one end connected to the valve to open and close the same upon vertical movement of the other end of the arm; a float connected to the other end of the arm which moves vertically within the tank upon the rising and lowering of the water level in the tank; and a valved water outlet; the improvement which comprises a mechanism adapted to be supported by and between the side walls of the tank and positioned below and in the path of movement of the arm to limit the downward movement of the arm and float when the water outlet valve is opened and water level in the tank drops, said mechanism including a pair of blocks having inner and outer faces adapted to engage the inner surfaces of the tanks side walls, bolts having screw threads at one end and having their other ends positioned in said apertures and pivotally connected to said blocks, and a turnbuckle link having right and left screw threads engaging the threads on said bolts, whereby said turnbuckle may be actuated to draw said blocks toward each other a distance less than the space between the side walls to permit positioning of said mechanism within the tank between the side walls thereof and under the arm and adjacent the float and thereafter again be actuated to force said blocks apart to cause said blocks to firmly contact the inner surfaces of the tanks side Walls and hold said mechanism in place.

3. In a toilet flush mechanism as set forth in claim 1, further characterized in that said apertures are larger than the diameter of said bolts to provide play between said blocks and bolts so that said blocks need not be in the same horizontal and vertical plane when they engage the side Walls of the tank.

4. In a toilet flush mechanism as set forth in claim 3, further characterized in that said turnbuckle link is oblong in cross section and is surrounded by a sheath.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,046,888 7/1936 Watt 4-67 3,063,059 11/1962 Ulicni 4-67 XR 2,741,821 4/1956 Findley 248-354 XR 2,794,217 I 6/1957 Croft 248354 XR 2,920,853 1/1960 Bufogle. 3,030,061 4/1962 Jennings 248-354 SAMUEL ROTHBERG, Primary Examiner. B. KILE, Assistant Examiner. 

